Responding to the Chancellor in the Commons, Mr Osborne warned that the 'buy now pay later' mini budget would lead to £1trillion of national debt.

He accused Mr Darling of gambling with the nation's finances and said that Labour had brought the country 'to the verge of bankruptcy' by doubling the national debt.

Scathing attack: George Osbourne called Labour's £20billion spending splurge a 'huge unexploded tax bomb' in the House of Commons today

It was a make-or-break occasion for Mr Osborne, who has been under fire over his lacklustre response to Labour's handling of the economic crisis.

The Shadow Chancellor has seen his personal ratings plummet in recent months following controversy over his dealings with the Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska over the summer.

But Mr Osborne delivered a robust performance in the Commons as he launched a full-scale attack on Labour's economic record.

The Shadow Chancellor and Tory leader David Cameron have taken a massive gamble by abandoning his party's long-term commitment to match Labour's spending plans until 2010.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown hopes that his plans to make the case for higher taxes will pkace the Tories into a difficult position where they will be forced to defend high earners and pledge cuts to public spending.

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But to cheers from the Tory MPs, Mr Osborne resurrected the notorious 'tax bombshell' attack against Labour which helped secure the party its last general election victory in 1992.

The Shadow Chancellor said Mr Darling was doling out £20 billion but taking back £40 billion through tax hikes, including the NI rise - which Mr Osborne described as a 'yax on jobs'.

He said: 'The Chancellor has just announced the largest amount of borrowing ever undertaken by a British Government in the entire history of this country.

'To pay for it he has placed a huge unexploded tax bombshell timed to go off underneath the future economic recovery.'

In a highly personal attack, Mr Osborne accused Mr Brown of being addicted to spending and borrowing.

He said: 'Stability has gone out of the window, prudence is dead, Labour has done it again. Massive borrowing, rising unemployment tax giveaways for Christmas paid by tax rises for life, giving with one hand taking with another. Everything we've come to expect from this Prime Minister.

'This budget is all about the political cycle and not the economic cycle. Like the gambler that can't give up, he thinks he can borrow his way out of debt.'

Mr Osborne added: 'The Chancellor could have taken a different path today, the path of radical monetary action and responsible fiscal policy - that is the right route out of a recession.

'Instead of boasting about the bank rescue abroad he could have made sure he was rescuing the real economy at home.

'He should have got credit moving through the veins of the economy by telling us he was directly ensuring business lending so small businesses are kept going instead of shoring up tax rises for them in the future.

'He could have helped the private sector get back on its feet with properly funded help on tax bills ... instead of piling on them crippling debts and National Insurance bills that will take ages to pay off."

Mr Osborne added: 'He could have got a grip on Government spending so that in future the state lives within the country's means - that is what we would do.

'Instead he offers temporary tax give-aways paid for by a lifetime of tax rises for the British people. The national debt doubled and the future mortgaged to bail out the mistakes of the past.

'This is exactly the road Britain is now on with this Prime Minister and this reckless Budget. Far from being an action plan it represents the greatest failure of public policy for a generation.

'It will make the recession worse because it will make the recovery more difficult."